I'm actually asking about this part: "With my current start-up it's not uncommon that we are instructed to sell to a customer via a nominated 3rd party. We don't know for sure, but we strongly suspect, that the 3rd party markup is how the executives are skimming off extra money. At least it keeps us out of it. "
This implies something other than the crazy rigged acquisition scenario you describe above (which is also absolutely bonkers).
Sorry, I misread as Edit #1. We know in certain countries in certain areas nothing gets done without some kind of bribe / kickbacks so we assume some of finders fee we pay for leads goes back to the customers exec. Sometimes we get asked to increase prices to increase their margins. I.e. make a Pro version for 10x the cost for them to buy. Sometimes the customers complain to us how expensive it is and then we tell them how much it should be costing them which is a fifth of the price. Usually the exec is untouchable though so it doesn't change anything. Funnily enough, only time we've been directly asked for graft was from a Swiss customer and we offered a junket which they didn't like, I guess they wanted more.
This implies something other than the crazy rigged acquisition scenario you describe above (which is also absolutely bonkers).